THE GARDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20708, 4 May 1929, Page 7

THE GARDEN

THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY. Continue to house Chrysanthemums, to put in cuttings of pansies and violas, and to house tender plants lifted from the flower garden. THE FLOWER GARDEN. Bake up and store away leave! from time to time, lift fuchsias, cannus and tuberous begonias as Soon as they are, touched by frost, and plant out wall flowers, primrose, polyanthus and other spring flowering plants. THE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN. Continue to clear out spent 'crops, and to plant cabbage, sow peas, broad' beans and lettuce, and earth up celery. Plant out fruit trees and bushes, and complete the planting of strawberries. PLANTING ROSES. Autpmn planting is .the most suitable for roses as well as fruit trees, and if. beds and borders were trenched when recommended the soil should have settled, and it will be in good order. If left until the winter rains set in it becomes cold and sticky and not in a good state for’ the damaged roots. First of all, fork or lightly dig over the surface soil, incorporating a good dressing of lime and wood ashes if they are available. After levelling and, removing tlie. larger stones or clods, mark out the position each plant is to occupy with a Siece of stick. The distance apart will epend on the kind of roses and the pur pose for which they are grown. If for exhibition purposes anything from 18 inches to 24 Inches will be enough, for , by cutting hard bach and limiting the number of branches we get quality and size. If for garden decoration much more room will be required, and 24 inches for the weak growers and 30 for the stronger kinds will be quite suitable.' The distance between tha rows will be from two feet to three feet according to the vigour of the variety. When marking, out the position for the plants with the Sticks, they should be in the -actual position which the plant is to occupy and remain at the back of the hole after it is dug. As a rule it is , advisable to plant i a tree or shrub in the middle of the hole, but owing to the position of the rose roots (all to one side through the lining out of the stocks in.lie nursery rows) it is usual to plant against-the back of the hole. With a clean apade take out the soil to a depth of 18 inches and a width of from 12 inches to 15 inches, laying it' on one side. .If the soil is not of a kindly nature, or if you want to do your roses well, P*’”®P are * heap of nice light loam and old potting soil or a mixture of two parts loam and one each of sand and leafmould, keeping it in a shed or under cover until it is required. Some growers add bone meal and kainit, but I prefer to apply these as a surface dressing in the spring and to .put a manure-free soil next the roots. When the bundle of roses arrives the packing materials should be removed carefully and the plants pulled apart gently, for there is a danger of breaking off some of the branches or breaking thorn off at tHe junction of the stock or scion. If to be planted at once they can be covered up with a wet sack and taken out one by one as required; if not, they are better •heeled in deeply, almost buried. There ought to be two persons at the plant operations, one wearing a pair of stout pruning gloves to hold the plants and ™ °“ er to wield the spade. Put a - little of the surface soil or the prepared sou in the bottom of the hole and then fit in the plant with the union of the stock and the scion two inches below the surface level of the soil. I should have mentioned that if the roots are damaged in any way, and they usually are br v!Si should be trimmed back a little with a sharp knife or good cutting secateurs. Having fixed the plant *lt corr ® Q t depth, throw in some more the surface soil or the prepared soil, shake the plant to work it in amongst the fine roots, and then add some more soil before tramping it firmly with the feet, pressing the soil round the roots as well as down on top of them. Firm planting in good fine manurefree soil is ideal, and the surface should level, but not too fine. Paper +W IS - d ° ? 0t look ver y nice > an< i as there is also a danger pf the names becommg obliterated by the spring, it is better to put in the permanent labels or to make a plan of the bed or border ■numbering each plant and recording the names in a book. When planting stan--dards or half-standards the supporting stake should be driven in instead of thl marking stick, and the plant tied securely to it as soon as the planting operation is finished. ' ■ ■ PRUNING GOOSEBERRIES. : The pruning of bush fruits can be copimeneed now, for though this is an operation which can be carried out quite Well when the soil -is frozen, it is a very cold one and-more pleasant in the autumn than in the winter. There are several ways of pruning and training the gooseberry, but as the bush form is the commonest I will describe it first .hlnf , begln ™ ith y° UI >g which baV f th A ee or four shoots abouta foot in length. These are shortened hack to half the length, taking care to cqt to a bud pointing outwards on the upright growing kinds und to one pointi?ff. u P war^s on the drooping kinds, Next year each of the four shoots wili be aliowed to carry on with two more. “ j x? ar ? a about the same strength and the shoots will increase in number as the bushes grow outwards and up wards. Old plants which were sumniei pinched will have one or two leading shoots , their full length and a number two to three inches long. The pinched shoots are cut back to about an inch the ° w , wood and the leading shoots, reduced to one, which should be shortened back to from 0 inches to 1* inches acording to the room which the bush has to occupy, again taking care to cut to an outside bud on the upright growers and a top bud on the droopim. kinds. When gooseberry bushes become old it is realy better to dig them out and replant young ones, but they can be kept young and vigorous by takino- ur , one or two young shoots from the middle of the plants and removing one or two of the old branches altogether. Goose berries bear fruit on the little spurs which arise on the old wood, as well as on the well ripened shoots of last season, but they must be kept open to allow air and light to get right into the centre of the pushes and kept young and vigorous by proper pruning and reasonable feeding. Many, people make the mistake of pruning all the young shoots back to one or two inches, thereby securing an excellent -thicket of young twigs, plentv of leaves, but very little fruit. A model gooseberry bush may be described as havjng main branches thinly disposed, fnr.nished throughout with vigorous fruiting spurs, and maintained so by the annual extension and addition of young wood. ,It is also important to maintain an ?yen development all round, so that the extremities of all the branches may be at the same distance from the roots , f* secure an even distribution of the sap and an even distribution of the crop. . Gooseberries need not bo confined to bushes, for they fruit equally well when trained as fans or cordons, and the fruit

> WORK FOR THE WEEK. by F.R,H.S.«

is of a much better quality, and it is easier to protect it from birds with nets. Trained on a wire fence they form an excellent division between different parts of the garden , or s a shelter for smaller bush fruits or vegetables. Cordon-shaped plants produce the very best quality of fruit both as to size and flavour, each little bush being restricted to three or four branches trained to a height of 6 feet. Thin manuka or bamboo poles are tied to the wire fence at from six inches to nine inches apart, and young plants with three or four good shoots are planted at from 24 inches to 27 inches apart, each shoot being tied to a rod. During the summer all shoots, except the leading ones, are pinched back to four leaves, and in the autumn these are cut back to an inch and the unripened tip of the leading shoot cut away. In this way the plants get the maximm aipount of sun and air, and well-developed, well ripened berries are the result. Where gooseberries arc ground for picking green much less pruning will be required, and some growers only prune half of their bushes one year and the other half the next. Birds often pick out the fruit bads as soon as they begin to Swell, but fortunately they are easily frightened away by strands of black cotton stretched about over the ends of the branches. After pruning rake up the twigs and burn them, and dig or fork over the soil, but it is not desirable to dig under the bushes on account of the danger of cutting the fibrous roots. It is better to scrape away the surface soil to a depth of two inches, to mulch with a layer of wellrotten manure, and to throiv some clean soil dug from between the bushes over it. If farmyard manure is not available a dressing of chemical manure can be applied as follows:——ln July give a dressing of kainit at the rate of one ounce to every square yard, in August one of superphosphate at the rate of three ounces per square yard, and when in- flower another dressing of sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of soda ai the rate of two ounces per square yard. These manures are dusted evenly under and between the bushes and worked into the surface soil with the scuffle hoe. Now plantations of gooseberries can be put in now,, and varieties suitable for picking green for cooking are Winham’s Industry, Crown Bob, Warrington, Dan’s Mistake, and Lion’s Provider. For dessert to be picked when ripe Early Sulphur, Gulden Drop, Whitesmith, Broom Girl, and Ironmonger are suitable. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. “ Gladiolus,” Christchurch.—You should plant your gladioli corns, which have just arrived with sprouts an inch long, in boxes of good light soil at once, and place these in a cold frame or in a warm sheltered place. They will continue to grow, and some may produce flower spikes (which should be cut off), and ripen off in time to start growth again late next spring or early summer. They should produce young corms sufficiently large to flower next autumn. “ Climber,” Glenore.—Diplacus splendens is a shrubby plant often grown against a wall or fence because it Is a bit tender. It is a native of California, and has buffi or salmoncoloured flowers like a mimulus, ■ which are produced, all the yearround. tl is quite a desirable plant to grow. “ W.W.,” Dunedin.—Clematis montana, var rubens, is a splendid quick-grow-ing climber which' would soon cover your entire fence, but it would be advisable to also put In Solanum crispum, Lathyrus pubescens, and Polyganum baldschusanicum. “H. G.,” Mosgiel.—You should thin out the growths of the hydrange, which does not flower in the spring, and merely cut off the tips of the shoots if frosted. You could dust your delphiniums with dry sulphur or spray them with sulphide of potassium. “J. H.,” Dunedin.—lf your roses are in a good position don’t lift them again, and prune hard in the spring.